Hey everyone, I want to thank everyone in advance for their input on this thread. I have been interviewing lately at some proprietary trading firms lately and want some advice regarding my logic. I have worked the last year and a half as a financial advisor and been successful at it at a premier boutique. Before that I worked for 6 years clerking on the floor at the CBOT while I worked through college. My experience with the financial markets is pretty deep and I feel sufficient to have a reasonable shot at trading for a living. Currently I am just plain tired of my job and have a hard time seeing myself doing it for long. It is a good career but boring and unchallenging if you ask me. Trading is my passion and likely always will be. I have had decent success for a few years trading etfs and usually profit on 80% of my trades by a considerable percentage on my principal. So, I started interviewing at a few places and got my resume out and am at a turning point. I will likely have a job offer from one firm and I feel like it will be my opportunity to take the plunge and give it a shot. You are an employee there but you only get a draw, I think limited at 30k for the first six months. It is mainly futures, some options. Full benefits and I want to say a 50/50 split. Do you guys think it is crazy to give up a well rooted career that would likely be a safe bet for financial security down the road and may be decently prosperous to take a shot at a prop firm with that kind of deal?? I have always felt very confident in my ability to be successful at trading but I only have a track record of say 100 trades that I hold for 0.25-5 days. Thank you all again, I apologize for the lengthy post!
Yes, it is crazy and foolish to give up solid money for maybe money. If you are GOOD at trading, work out a schedule for you to trade a few hours in the day. Nothing wrong with monitoring your positions at work. Some of us, regardless of our educations, Couldn't make this living and lifestyle doing anything else but trading. If you have an established income, why piss it away for anything less stable, when you could do both? When your trading income doubles your job for three years, THEN quit.
German, Crazy even if one cannot stand the bs of your current job? Lately I am beginning to realize the only thing that keeps me coming back to my job is the minute amount of trading that I can do during it. But, I am going to probably do a little more preparation where I build a cushion and trade a bit on my own but it is difficult to be on top of positions while at work. I want to trade bigger size and with higher frequency and it is not possible with what I am currently doing.
Look, we all have (or had) jobs we cannot stand, with jerks we would just as soon throw in front of a bus than smile to, etc. But that is the price to pay, for now. In your field, is it possible to work a shift that does not interfere with market hours? Logically, yes, still crazy. One can enter their emotions into the decision at any or all points of the consideration, but you should consider emotions as rounding. The more you use emotions in your consideration, the less accurate your numbers will be... just like trading.
go for it. you're still young. you can always return to your original career later if things don't work out.
keep the job, trade your capital as you also maintain your book of clients, establish a track record, get 100% payout (and risk) on your own capital. when you have a consistent track record and methodology, get licensed and transition some of your better clients into managed accounts.
If you can continue trading what has already given you profits, and keep your employment at the same time, you should do so. Having the ability to sit in front of a trading screen all day doesn't necessarily increase your chances of success. On the other hand, if you have a burning desire to trade, and only if you can easily return to your present career path if you burn out trading in 12 months (which in reality is likely) , then go for it. What you want to avoid at all costs is a typical situation where you get off the career ladder to trade, and find yourself 5 years down the road with few profits and no marketable experience.
First off, if you hate your job, there's obviously no point in staying there for the next 20-30 years. We only live once. But if obviously doesn't make much sense to give up a secure job for something as risky as day trading with a prop firm. It's impractical to say the least. There is a THIRD option though, which I personally think is the best: Pursue professional trading as a career. Apply for jobs such as Equity sale and trading at ,say, Royal bank Capital. Since you are planning on doing trading for a living, why not make it into stable career (which pays very well) as suppose to making money on a day to day basis?
Royal Bank of Scotland is building the world's largest electronic trading floor in Stamford, Connecticut. Right next to UBS's building with the currently largest electronic trading floor. Don't know when it opens, but it wouldn't hurt to track and follow up on this. They may do some hiring...
That is what I would love to do ideally but I never seem to stumble across these jobs. Also, I was under the impression that you had to be an "ivy league" guy, connected to someone in the firm, a computer geek, or someone with very impressive credentials to land jobs like these. Thanks for the advice though I am definitely going try applying to these types of jobs when I see them.